SUBCONTRACTING
1.Working under the management system of an organisation appropriately approved under Part-145 (subcontracting) refers to the case of one organisation, whether or not it is approved under Part-145, that carries out certain maintenance (see paragraph 3.1) under the approval certificate of a Part-145. In order to subcontract, the Part-145 organisation should have a procedure for the control of such subcontractors as described below. Any approved maintenance organisation that carries out maintenance under its own approval certificate for another approved maintenance organisation is not considered to be subcontracted for the purpose of this paragraph, but contracted by that other organisation (see GM2 145.A.205).
2.Maintenance of engines or engine modules other than ‘a complete workshop maintenance check or overhaul’ is intended to mean any maintenance that can be carried out without disassembly of the core engine or, in the case of modular engines, without disassembly of any core module.
3.FUNDAMENTALS OF SUBCONTRACTING UNDER PART-145
3.1. The most common reasons for allowing an organisation approved under Part-145 to sub-contract is to permit acceptance of certain maintenance tasks carried out by subcontractors when approvals by the competent authority of those subcontractors are not justified (e.g. limited scope of work, limited volume of maintenance activities, limited number of potential customers, limited need in time) or when the subcontractors cannot demonstrate compliance with all elements of the regulation (e.g. no maintenance facilities, specialised staff not covering all maintenance scope). This subcontracting option permits the acceptance of the following maintenance:
(a)specialised maintenance services, such as, but not limited to, surface treatment (e.g. plating, plasma spraying), fabrication of specified parts for repairs/ modifications, welding, etc.;
(b)aircraft maintenance (e.g. line maintenance, leaks detection in fuel tanks, special repairs/modifications, complete aircraft painting) up to but not including a complete base maintenance check as specified in point 145.A.75(b);
(c)component maintenance.;
(d)engine maintenance up to but not including a complete workshop maintenance check or overhaul of an engine or engine module as specified in point 145.A.75(b).
3.2. When maintenance is carried out under the management system of a Part-145 organisation, it means that for the duration of such maintenance, the Part-145 approval has been temporarily extended to include the subcontractor. It therefore follows that all parts of the subcontractor (facilities, personnel, equipment and tools, components, maintenance data and procedures) involved with the maintenance organisation’s products undergoing maintenance should meet Part-145 requirements and the Part-145 organisation’s MOE for the duration of that maintenance, and it remains the Part-145 organisation’s responsibility to ensure such requirements are satisfied.
3.3. When subcontracting, the Part-145 organisation is not required to have complete facilities for the maintenance that it needs to sub-contract, but it should have its own expertise to determine whether the subcontractor meets the necessary standards. However, a Part-145 organisation cannot be approved unless it has in-house the facilities, personnel, equipment and tools, components, maintenance data, procedures and expertise to carry out the majority of the maintenance for which it wishes to receive the terms of approval.
3.4. The organisation may find it necessary to include specialised subcontractors to enable it to be approved to issue the certificate of release to service of a particular maintenance. Examples are provided in point 3.1(a). To authorise the use of such subcontractors, the competent authority will need to be satisfied that the Part-145 organisation has the necessary expertise and procedures to control such subcontractors.
3.5. A maintenance organisation working outside the scope of its terms of approval is deemed to be not approved for the work considered. Such an organisation may in this circumstance operate only as a subcontractor under the management system and control of another organisation appropriately approved under Part-145.
3.6. Authorisation to sub-contract is indicated by the competent authority approving the MOE containing a specific procedure on the control of subcontractors as well as a list of subcontractors.
4.PART-145 PROCEDURES FOR THE CONTROL OF SUBCONTRACTORS
4.1. A pre-audit procedure should be established whereby the Part-145 organisation should audit a prospective subcontractor to determine whether those services of the subcontractor that it wishes to use meet the intent of Part-145. This audit should be performed under the responsibility of the compliance monitoring function.
4.2. The Part-145 organisation needs to assess to what extent it will use the subcontractor resources (facilities included). The contract between the Part-145 organisation and the subcontractor will determine whether the Part-145 organisation requires its own paperwork, maintenance data and components to be used or, provided that they meet the requirements of Part-145, if the facilities, equipment and tools from the subcontractor will be used. In the case of subcontractors who provide specialised services, it may for practical reasons be necessary to use their specialised services paperwork, maintenance data and components, subject to acceptance by the Part-145 organisation.
4.3. Unless the sub-contracted maintenance work can be fully inspected on receipt by the Part-145 organisation, it will be necessary for the Part-145 organisation to establish an MOE procedure to control the subcontracted maintenance work (and associated supporting documents). The organisation will need to consider whether to use its own personnel or to authorise the subcontractor personnel for that control.
4.4. The certificate of release to service may be issued either by subcontractor staff holding a certification authorisation issued by the Part-145 organisation in accordance with points 145.A.30 and 145.A.35 as appropriate, or by the Part-145 organisation certifying staff.
4.5. The subcontractor control procedure will need to address the relevant management system key processes such as safety risk management and compliance monitoring (see point 145.A.205). The procedure should ensure that records of all subcontractor audits and inspections, and the corresponding actions are kept, and provide information on when subcontractors are used. The procedure should include a clear revocation process for subcontractors that do not meet the Part-145 maintenance organisation’s requirements.
4.6. The Part-145 compliance monitoring staff will need to audit the subcontractor control function of the Part-145 organisation and to audit the subcontractors unless this task is already carried out by the subcontractor control function on behalf of the compliance monitoring function.
4.7. The contract between the Part-145 organisation and the subcontractor should contain a provision to ensure that access to the subcontractor is granted to any person authorised by the authorities specified in point 145.A.140.